Men Are “Moms” Too: Reaching The Younger Generation Dad
No surprise here - you really can’t “think pink” (and you shouldn’t be anyway) when marketing to parents. Men are more involved in the caretaking/raising of kids than ever before, and what used to be a gender difference question is now really a generational difference question. Here’s a quote from Karlene Lukovitz’s latest piece in MediaPost covering the release of new research:
Who are these new generations of dads? They are less defined by gender stereotypes and see much less of a dividing line between men and women–partly as a result of their upbringing and partly as a result of being married to women who work and are more active and individualistic than previous generations.
This sounds suspiciously like something I’ve been saying/writing about for a few years. Anyway…
Younger generation men are getting more comfortable making changes in their work life in order to balance out parenting duties. The women who marry or partner with them are loving it, because this means they can feel more comfortable should they choose to become more involved with their careers.
As far as consumer behavior, marketers should be noticing that some men (often initially the urban, trendsetting types) are feeling more “allowed” by society to buy according to their “feminine” brain/shopping traits. Men are already more open to buying skin and haircare, for example. They are also taking more in (i.e. buying more holistically) as they make other purchasing decisions - especially when it involves their families.
Shopping behavior is not as gender-related as it may have once been. Younger generations simply have less experience with the “men do this” and “women do that” rules to which so many of us older types have grudgingly accepted.
The toughest customers, male or female, may no longer let marketers segment them by gender. Instead, they will ALL prefer to be served at the high standards that women, particularly, have long demanded.
